


Coronation

by historymiss



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Gen, be thankful that this is not 5k words of brightmoon court politics, character study kinda, more s3 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 11:37:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20134846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/historymiss/pseuds/historymiss
Summary: When she was very little, Glimmer used to play at being queen. She’d arrange her dolls and toys in ranks around her, blank-eyed courtiers, and issue orders the way she’d seen her parents do. Sometimes she imitated her mother’s precise accent, sometimes her dad’s habit of underlining his words with sparks from his fingers, though she was too young to produce anything more than a vague aura around her hands.The games stopped after her father died.





	Coronation

When she was very little, Glimmer used to play at being queen. She’d arrange her dolls and toys in ranks around her, blank-eyed courtiers, and issue orders the way she’d seen her parents do. Sometimes she imitated her mother’s precise accent, sometimes her dad’s habit of underlining his words with sparks from his fingers, though she was too young to produce anything more than a vague aura around her hands.

The games stopped after her father died.

Glimmer had known, vaguely, that her accession to the throne of Brightmoon may not be a happy one. It didn’t convey the reality of it, though. Glimmer had fallen into the easy trap of thinking her mother indestructible, an easy enough error and one that she cannot forgive herself for making. She should have prepared for this, the absence that took her by surprise at the most unexpected times. Glimmer is used to grief, but this is something else- this is a mortal wound, raw and bleeding, and though Adora and Bow try there’s nothing that they can do to stitch it shut.

Making it worse: they can’t have a funeral. There’s no body, nothing to lay in the tomb where Angella’s parents and grandparents lie waiting for the next in line to take their place among them. Glimmer has only her own memories of Micah’s memorial to guide her through what to do next. She doesn't want to do it, even refused initially, but Castaspella knows what running a kingdom is, how easy it would be to lose control of the factions Angella rallied for war, and urges her to either take the crown or accept a regency (she doesn't, for the sake of delicacy, mention who would take that role, but they both know that it would be Castaspella herself, and that would be worse for court politics than the loss of Angella in the first place). Glimmer, thankfully, has never been one to shy away from a task simply because it's hard. It's obvious, even if she wishes it wasn't. Brightmoon doesn't need a Princess, right now- it needs a Queen.

So: a new mural, draped in black. A blank and ageless face haloed in rays of light, arms and wings lifted as if to bear the weight of the whole of Etheria. A sombre coronation, the light and colour of Brightmoon dulled as Glimmer makes her slow and steady way up the hall to the dais, to the crown, to the empty throne.

Adora stands beside it. Not She-Ra, and Glimmer is unutterably grateful. Bow is there, and he gives her a sad, sweet smile. Under the heavy ceremonial cape, Glimmer’s shoulders square. This, at least, is different– she will not mourn alone, this time. 

Castaspella holds the crown, and offers it to her. Glimmer takes it, and crowns herself, holding her breath against the sobs that could so easily overwhelm her.

Glimmer is the Queen of Brightmoon, and at least, she reflects, she has hardly any family left to lose.


End file.
